Saturday 17 September 2011 07.00 EDT
First published on Saturday 17 September 2011 07.00 EDT

Manny Ramirez doesn't do happy endings and ever-afters. Instead, the baseball star specialises in bitter partings and recriminations. A man who could have been one of the all-time great baseball players – stellar statistics and memorable World Series wins – has instead left a trail of bitterness. Where he should be remembered fondly he left conflicted memories at best.

He was named Most Valuable Player when he helped the Boston Red Sox end the Curse of the Bambino in the 2004 World Series. He batted above .500 for the LA Dodgers in the 2008 playoffs. He even took the Cleveland Indians to two World Series. But he is remembered just as well for other moments, for fights, contract rows and, most damagingly, drug suspensions. Almost every club he played for he left on bad terms.

The batter and outfielder is living in Florida after retiring abruptly in April after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug during spring training. He had only joined the Tampa Bay Rays at the beginning of the year and made just five appearances for them.

The spectre of drug-assisted power has dogged Ramirez – and many other players – this millennium. In 2009 the Dominican-born, New York-raised Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for violating the MLB's drug rules. He was accused of using a women's fertility drug, human chorionic gonadotropin, often taken by steroid users to restart their body's natural testosterone production after a steroid cycle. Testing was also said to show artificial testosterone. He had to undergo extra drug testing from then on as part of his rehabilitation into the league.

That year it was also reported that he had tested positive for performance-enhancing substances back in 2003, but had escaped sanction by the baseball authorities. The 2003 doping list cast a huge shadow over baseball, with some of the games biggest names and stories tainted by the accusations. Ramirez and David Ortiz, whose free-scoring performances helped the Red Sox end their 86-year World Series nightmare, were among 100 MLB players alleged to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Other big-hitters implicated were San Francisco Giants legend Barry Bonds, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez, who is now at the New York Yankees.

Ramirez's major league career began at the Cleveland Indians, where he broke club records and played in two World Series (the club has only played in five in its entire history), but in 2000 he moved to the Boston Red Sox for an eight-year $160m contract.

Helping the team to its first World Series since 1918, Ramirez's personal statistics were phenomenal: he and Ortiz were the first pair of American League teammates to hit 40 home runs, have 100 RBIs, and bat .300 since the legendary Yankees pairing of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1931. But by 2008 disenchantment had set in, he famously fought with teammate Kevin Youkilis in the dugout and he pushed the club's travelling secretary to the ground when the 64-year-old could not fulfil a request for a large number of tickets on a game day.

By the middle of that season, Ramirez was at war with the club, claiming injuries to miss games and was traded to the LA Dodgers. Los Angeles immediately took to Ramirez – Mannywood, said the banners – as he transformed the club from also-rans into pennant winners. The Dodgers then swept the Chicago Cubs in a division series before losing the National League Championship Series to the eventual World Series-winning Philadelphia Phillies. Ramirez hit an outstanding .520 with four home runs in the post-season. Dodger fans took to wearing Manny wigs.

But the following year he was suspended for drug use, and when he came back things were never the same. The following year he was traded, but not before sullying his reputation further in his last ever appearance, where he was ejected from the game after facing just one pitch. The day after his move, the Manny wigs – which had always looked slightly incongruous among the smart marketing apparel of the club shop – had been removed.

A short stint with the Chicago White Sox yielded just one home run before he made his ill-fated move to Florida.

The now-retired Ramirez has not yet been convicted of any crime. TMZ reported that Mrs Ramirez said he slapped her, causing her to hit her head against the bed's headboard, and that she had red swelling on her face and a bruise on her head when police arrived. "Ramirez admits he "grabbed" her, but claims that she only hit her head after he "shrugged" her. Whatever that means, it doesn't matter, because he admitted he did in fact put his hands on her, which won't help his case," as the NESN report says.

Ramirez should be a fondly remembered star: World Series winner, 12 All-Star appearances, one of only 25 players to hit 500 career home runs, the third highest grand slam scorer (21) and more post-season home runs than any other player ever (29). But his achievements have been tarnished and this is perhaps the lowest point.

In the good times, Ramirez was known for his quirkiness – urinating behind the Green Monster at Fenway Park, his baggy uniforms, his two sons named Manny Jr – and the phrase "Just Manny being Manny" was coined. This fond phrase has taken on a much darker meaning over the years.